Stream

"At Target, 40 million customers had their credit-card information exposed to hackers. At JPMorgan Chase, personal details associated with 80 million accounts leaked. Last month, a hacker gained access to 4.5 million records from the University of California, Los Angeles, health system."

Women in science and engineering seek their own version of 'MacGyver' on TV

"Beth Keser, a principal engineer at Qualcomm in San Diego, sure hopes so. Keser was among five winners selected this week by a coalition that’s trying to get a female version of “MacGyver” on TV in hopes of boosting the number of women who pursue science and engineering careers. The National Academy of Engineering, USC Viterbi School of Engineering and a couple of other groups put on the competition."

In the not-so-distant past, it was the fashion for doctors to carry black bags filled with stethoscopes, blood pressure cuffs and other gadgets.

Eric Topol, a cardiologist and chief academic officer at Scripps Health is one of the few doctors whose black bag isn’t gathering dust. But Topol’s black bag is no relic of the past: It contains an assortment of the latest wearable devices and gizmos. He describes it as “exponentially more powerful” than an equivalent bag from a century ago.

Listen to or read the interview with Topol on KQED's Future of You ...﻿

KQED spoke with Dr. Eric Topol, a cardiologist and author, at an event hosted by Rock Health. Here are some of the highlights from our wide-ranging conversation about how mobile technology is changing health care.

"Jorge Soto is a cancer technologist and CTO of Miroculus, a company devoted to designing an inexpensive method of detecting cancer before it is too late to treat. They hope to create a device that can give top-tier medical access to all, regardless of physical and socioeconomic boundaries. Soto is a graduate of both Tec de Monterrey and Singularity University. In September 2013, he returned to Mexico to help the President's Office develop strategies and projects that encourage civic participation, transparency, accountability and innovation in Mexico, and improve the communication between citizens and their institutions."

"Do you roam city sidewalks with your nose buried in your phone, oblivious to what’s going on around you? If so, you may want to look up and start paying attention.

Texting while walking decreases the ability to walk in a straight line and slows down pace significantly, according to a study published Wednesday in PLOS ONE. But this gait change may not be as dangerous as it sounds, the researchers say."﻿

"Some years ago scientists noticed that theropods also had some unusual structures inside their teeth: interconnected cracks and voids...the discovery sheds light on the evolution of theropods and how they were able to thrive on Earth as an apex predator for 165 million years." Find out more from The Los Angeles Times.﻿

Many extinct creatures, including killer theropod dinosaurs like the notorious Tyrannosaurus rex , had serrated teeth, with jagged cutting edges to help them chew through flesh. Some years ago scientists noticed that theropods also had some unusual structures inside their teeth: interconnected cracks and voids that many thought must have been wear and tear from the act of eating hard stuff, like bones.

+OldAA Bill Too handicapped to be a predator? Where on earth did you get that idea from? What evidence is there that it was "handicapped? "

Yeah, its forelimbs are very small but they are also very well muscled and quite strong. Small forelimbs are also a characteristic of virtually ALL of the Tyrannosaur family. Many of these animals were lightly built and clearly meant for speed, a trait that's rather useless for a scavenger.

I'd also like to point out that any advantages lost by having short forelimbs would be completely offset by its bite, which is estimated to have been the strongest bite of any land animal.

What do you mean it would've fallen over trying to get fresh meat? That's the stupidest thing I've heard all day. Do you have any evidence to support that? The massive tail acts as a counterbalance, and even then, a T. rex fossil has been found with more than half its tail missing from another T. rex attack. What was left of the tail shows evidence of the bone healing, obviously indicating that the animal was able to be mobile and find food and water for some time.

I also submit to you that T. rex would have also had to bend down to tear scavenged meat too, as well as to drink. And again, as I've said before there's fossil evidence of Hadrosaurs surviving Tyrannosaurus attacks.﻿

Communities

"Imagine having to build a bridge — a strong bridge — out of nothing but epoxy and spaghetti.

Yeah, hard. Just ask one of the 160 high schoolers who recently finished Engineering Innovation, a rigorous, monthlong summer camp run by Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore and a handful of other cities. They didn’t just have to imagine it; they had to do it." #Mindshift#Npr#STEM#Engineering﻿

"The majority of California’s water districts have stepped up to meet strict new water conservation rules, according to data released by the state on Thursday. Almost 40 percent of urban water suppliers cut their water use dramatically, by 30 percent or more. About a third of water districts, 140 in all, fell short, mostly in Southern California." #CaWater#Drought﻿

For the second time this week, security researchers have given Android users something to worry about. On Thursday, researchers at Trend Micro announced they've discovered a flaw that could render an Android device unusable. The vulnerability affects more than half of the Android gadgets ...

"For years, Google has had eyes in neighborhoods across the world: Google Street View cars armed with cameras, lasers, and GPS devices to filter "360-degree panoramic views" and "locations on all seven continents" to Google Maps.

Twitter Faces Challenges as It Tries to Balance Profitability, Popularity

"Twitter surprised Wall Street by announcing better-than-expected earnings yesterday. Earnings were not expected to be so good because the company faces challenges. The question is how to take a medium that’s all about what’s happening right now this very second and keep it sustainable. "﻿

"Over the years, scientists have mostly interpreted the world through what they can see. But in the last few decades, a culture of listening has blossomed, especially among biologists who seek to understand how animals communicate. This week Morning Edition embarks on a weekly summer series called Close Listening: Decoding Nature Through Sound. We begin with an innovation that transformed medicine by searching sounds for clues to illness and health."﻿

Explore science, nature and environment stories from the Bay Area and beyond with KQED Science.

Introduction

Stay informed about the latest science news, trends and events with KQED Science. And explore the Bay Area through stories from QUEST, a science, nature and environment multimedia series produced in collaboration with KQED and other PBS stations.